Heel Turns in Sports Entertainment/Pro-Wrestling

Galvatron78 · Post by **Galvatron78** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 8:36 pm

A Heel Turn is when a good guy becomes a bad guy. They're the greatest thing ever. When booked/scripted properly they can turn out classic (Hogan) and even on the indy scene they can be dramatic for die hard fans. Personally i never like the BabyFaces (the good guys) as a youth, i always cheered for the bad guy and when they had over the top antics i liked them even more. So exactly what are/were your favorite Heel Turns?

eris · Post by **eris** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 9:19 pm

Hogan was definitely a stunner at the time.

I enjoyed Owen Hart turning heel against Bret just before Wrestlemania X, I believe. All of Owen's heel work was fantastic. He played the whole ME, ME, ME, hating the living in the shadow of his family perfectly.

Macho Man was a great heel as well. His turn on Hogan created amazing monologues.

Prophecy · Post by **Prophecy** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 9:28 pm

Shawn Michaels Turning on Marty Jannety and kicking him through the glass. This was the event that broke up one of the most beloved tag teams and put HBK on a path to super stardom

Jake the Snake Turning on the Ultimate Warrior was awesome. All the bizarre tests that Jake put Warrior through to prepare him for his match against the undertaker. The whole room full of snakes where the snake popped out of the coffin and bit TUW and the reveal shortly after of Jake with The Undertaker and Paul Bearer. Epic moment for me as a kid as Jake the Snake and Taker were two of my favorites at that time.

Positive A · Post by **Positive A** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 9:34 pm

Mr wonderful on hogan.

Galvatron78 · Post by **Galvatron78** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 10:12 pm

- ECW 1995 November 2 Remember when Taz turned Heel after a 9 month layoff after Malenko and Scorpio broke his neck with a botched stuffed piledriver. He ref'd a grudge match between Bill Afonso and Todd Gordon. Taz attacked Tod Gordon and then grabbed the mic and did his whole deal about "Nobody cared about me when i was gone" and that heel turn made him into the Taz that everyone knows....and the Path of Rage ripped up shit in all of 96'.

Sylissez · Post by **Sylissez** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 10:41 pm

Most obvious ones have been mentioned, but gotta say Rocky Maivia (sp?) to The Rock. Perhaps the most influential heel turn of all time. Sans maybe Hulk to Hollywood Hogan.

Another good one was Diesel's turn. I can't remember if that's when he adopted or dropped the Big Daddy Cool persona, but it was a definitive shift in character.

Oh, and of course, BRET FUCKING HART!!!!! Man, that guy came alive with his heel turn. I think he was channeling a lot of his frustrations with the WWF at the time through his character's hatred towards Americans. And you could tell he was into it. I never wanna see Bret as a heel again, simply because it'd cheapen the greatness of his initial (well, not initial, but you know what I mean) heel run. WCW fucked up so, so, so bad with him.

As someone who grew up on late 80s/early 90s wrestling, I remember when a heel/face turn was a significant event, and not something that would come full circle within that week's programming.

Galvatron78 · Post by **Galvatron78** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 10:41 pm

eris wrote:I enjoyed Owen Hart turning heel against Bret just before Wrestlemania X, I believe. All of Owen's heel work was fantastic. He played the whole ME, ME, ME, hating the living in the shadow of his family perfectly.

This........folks always overlook Owen's heel turn, my favorite shit was when he threw the towel in for Bret after fake crying to forfeit his match.

ThaJim2 · Post by **ThaJim2** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 11:15 pm

Andrew the Giants heel turn was pretty good from what I remember. Sabu and RVD in ECW. Kurt Angle was great.

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 11:21 pm

I don't remember the circumstances, as I was pretty young, but I remember I was extremely upset when Barry Windham turned during his stay in NWA Florida.
He was my first favorite wrestler.

AWAE · Post by **AWAE** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 11:28 pm

ThaJim2 wrote:Kurt Angle was great.

that definitely made his career

YouTube · Post by **Philaflava** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 11:31 pm

Came in to say Macho Man too. IMO he was the best at it. Flair is up there too.

blastmaster · Post by **blastmaster** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 11:40 pm

Scott on Rick
Vince
Sgt Slaughter

Galvatron78 · Post by **Galvatron78** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 12:18 am

Arn Anderson's Hell turn again after turning on Dustin Rhodes

"I got tired of hearing "Ohhhh we want the old Arn Anderson back! Well here he is you've got him!!!

Julius Seizure · Post by **Julius Seizure** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 12:45 am

arn anderson was a bad motherfucker

A Kid · Post by **A Kid** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 1:15 am

this is a powerful thread. cant wait til Vince and his yesmen try to recreate the Hogan heel turn thru their guy John Cena. i swear he gets more heat from fans as a good guy as most heels get.

SYM · Post by **SYM** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 2:48 am

Remember Rocky Maivia? Yeah, I'm glad they ditched that character too. One hell of an effective heel turn.

LilLeftBrain · Post by **LilLeftBrain** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 3:19 am

A Kid wrote:this is a powerful thread.

A Kid · Post by **A Kid** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 3:39 am

SYM wrote:Remember Rocky Maivia? Yeah, I'm glad they ditched that character too. One hell of an effective heel turn.

theres old footage of him on youtube before his WWF debut and he was using the name Flex Kavana(lol) and he was a heel then and easily could have been one from the start..maybe he wouldnt be the star he is today if they did that though.

The Flex Says...doesnt really have the same ring to it.

Andvil · Post by **Andvil** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 4:49 am

wasn't Rocky already a heel when he went from the Nation Of Domination to being just The Rock?

Sgt Slaughter's turn is underrated, that shit made people FURIOUS. How DARE that motherfucker support the middle east during all the Desert Storm shit

Bischoff joining the nWo was classic

Paul Bearer turning on the Undertaker and joining Mankind......that happened right? I didnt just dream that up did i

ObeseJesus · Post by **ObeseJesus** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 7:24 am

Sylissez wrote:Another good one was Diesel's turn. I can't remember if that's when he adopted or dropped the Big Daddy Cool persona, but it was a definitive shift in character.

didn't he come in as a heel and then turn face as he and shawn michaels reached main event status?

And yeah, heels were always my fav. characters. I never got the people who cheered on the faces. For the most part faces were pretty boring characters.

Trademark · Post by **Trademark** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 10:11 am

wasn't a heel turn but Sting turning into the Crow was amazing.

A Kid · Post by **A Kid** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 10:34 am

Andvil wrote:wasn't Rocky already a heel when he went from the Nation Of Domination to being just The Rock?

he became The Rock while in the NOD..im not sure if it was slightly before or just during. i just remember everyone hating him and he joined NOD and took the shackles off

ObeseJesus wrote:
Sylissez wrote:Another good one was Diesel's turn. I can't remember if that's when he adopted or dropped the Big Daddy Cool persona, but it was a definitive shift in character.
didn't he come in as a heel and then turn face as he and shawn michaels reached main event status?

And yeah, heels were always my fav. characters. I never got the people who cheered on the faces. For the most part faces were pretty boring characters.

yeah Diesel came in as Shawn's bodyguard and they were heel. after the fans realized they liked Nash more than Dickinbottom they made him into their next new face..Big Daddy Cool was during his face run when they gave him new ring gear to fuck with.

ThaJim2 · Post by **ThaJim2** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 11:45 am

blastmaster wrote: Sgt Slaughter

This was a good one. I was at the WWF tapping when Slaughter was presented shoes from Hausissan himself (If I remember right this is the same show that the Rockers broke the dudes neck if not was at that one too). Shit was fucking hilarious there was this 70 year old lady with a cane that I thought was going down to beat him with it, never saw a person so into wrestling in my life. My 12 year old ass was telling people to show some respect with my pops looking on like you are going to get us killed.

Brougham33 · Post by **Brougham33** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 12:07 pm

NWO was great, but this will always be the GOAT heel turn
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Bill Simmons did a great writeup about this.

Rocks second run as a heel produced some great moments
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Rick Martel turning on Tito Santana was a good one, couldn't find the actual clip, but this shit is awesome:
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Bret Hart heel turn was good too.
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The Afronaut · Post by **The Afronaut** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 12:19 pm

ThaJim2 wrote:
blastmaster wrote: Sgt Slaughter

This was a good one. I was at the WWF tapping when Slaughter was presented shoes from Hausissan himself (If I remember right this is the same show that the Rockers broke the dudes neck if not was at that one too). Shit was fucking hilarious there was this 70 year old lady with a cane that I thought was going down to beat him with it, never saw a person so into wrestling in my life. My 12 year old ass was telling people to show some respect with my pops looking on like you are going to get us killed.

Picturing this is cracking me up.

Sylissez · Post by **Sylissez** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 4:26 pm

Brougham for posting up those vids. Watched em all.

Holy fuck did Savage ever bring the crazy intensity! I forget about Beefcake getting his ass whooped at the end too.

And all the innuendos in the Arrogance commericals.

I've kinda glossed (no :gloss:

) over Diesel being introduced as HBK's bodyguard, in my mind. His turn from face BACK to heel was good though, as his act as a face had gone really stale. Kind at the same point Randy Orton is right now. Yeah, he still gets reactions (mostly from women) but his character hasn't been interesting in about 2 years, since he was punting people out of commission.

Great thread, btw.

battlecatmeowstab212 · Thu Jun 09, 2011 5:26 pm

- I'll never forget June 1997 on an episode of Monday Nitro where everything was already going wrong when pretty boy German fan-favorite Alex Wright walked out (legit) intoxicated for an interview and accidentally infuriated a packed Disneyland audience by stating things he didn't get about American crowds. Unable to save face (pun somewhat intended), WCW just went with it and he became a bad guy.

- Undertaker's bikertaker character chokeslamming Jim Ross out of nowhere after asking him "So, you think you're better than me?" Audience was legit stunned and you could hear a pin drop.

- Chris Jericho's initial slow decent into madness by throwing tantrums and ripping WCW ring announcer's jackets will probably always be my favorite. Sad that it will never evvvvvvvvvvvver happen again.

- Unintentionally hilarious was when Tugboat turned on the Bushwackers and became Typhoon, particularly how he immeadiatly followed this turn by, mid-Gene Okerlund interview, pulling a rotary phone OUT OF NOWHERE and yelling at it for not putting him through to Hulk Hogan.

The Afronaut · Post by **The Afronaut** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 5:31 pm

battlecatmeowstab212 wrote:- Unintentionally hilarious was when Tugboat turned on the Bushwackers and became Typhoon, particularly how he immeadiatly followed this turn by, mid-Gene Okerlund interview, pulling a rotary phone OUT OF NOWHERE and yelling at it for not putting him through to Hulk Hogan.

Ramen · Post by **Ramen** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 6:03 pm

The whole Macho King arc was gold.

Galvatron78 · Post by **Galvatron78** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 9:28 pm